Book jacket



W. G. FINCH BOOK JACKET Filed Jan. 7, 1965 2 m F MM .4 2 m I 2 2 3 \m w w a m 1% w 8/ A \N J m L w m 55% o a o m 2" 2 SIS F 2 INVENTOR WILLARD s. FINCH BY- a ATTQRN EYS United States Patent Office 3,128,108 Patented Apr. 7, 1964 3,128,108 BOOK JACKET Willard G. Finch, 63 Humbercrest Blvd, Toronto, Ontario, Canada Filed Jan. 7, 1963, Ser. No. 249,742 3 Claims. (Cl. 281-33) This invention relates to a protective jacket for a book, and in particular to a protective jacket which may be folded to form a bookrest for supporting the book at a convenient reading angle on a plane surface.

The protective jacket is formed from heavy paper stock or like ioldable material, and may be constructed in a variety of sizes to accommodate various sizes of books.

The jacket is provided with a wedge-shaped pocket which may be opened out to form a support for the book at a convenient reading angle. The support is normally held against the jacket but may be quickly opened out and bent back along a fold line into a rigid open position for supporting the book at a convenient reading angle.

Pockets, each disposed in a bottom corner of the jacket are provided for receiving the lower corners of the cover of the book. The book is held against the jacket by an elastic cord.

The object of this invention is to strengthen the wedgeshaped support to make it more rigid and less likely to tear.

According to the invention, the support includes an outer and inner side wall panel, two foldable gussets which form the end walls of the support and a triangular flap connected to each gusset and overlapping the fold line about which the support is bent back, thereby making the jacket less likely to tear along this fold line. The gussets provide strong rigid end walls to the support since they are integral with one side wall panel of the support and rigidly secured by means of the triangular flaps to the other side wall panel.

The invention is hereinafter more particularly described and illustrated in the annexed drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a plan view of a blank for forming the jacket;

FIG. 2 is a plan view of a folded jacket in the open position;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the jacket with the support opened out and bent back;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view partially cut away of a portion of the support shown in FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a partially cut away perspective view of a book covered and supported by the jacket; and

FIG. 6 is a plan view on a reduced scale, of a two piece jacket.

The jacket is formed of a lower part A adapted to cover the lower part of a book and having flaps 10, l1 and 12 folded to form pockets for receiving the edges of the lower part of the back of a book. Vertical fold lines 13 running from bottom to top of the blank parallel to the centre line facilitate folding of the jacket when the book is opened and closed.

The upper part B of the jacket is adapted to cover the upper part of the back of a book. It is foldable back along a tranverse line of fold .14 to provide a support for the book. It comprises an outer panel 15 and an inner panel 16. The inner panel is folded on line 17 over the outer panel to form a pocket. Forming p ant of the inner panel and secured to the outer panel at each end thereof, are triangular gussets 18 and 19 which form the end walls of the pocket. The gussets are each formed by three fold lines extending radially from the edge of the cover at the line of fold 17 to the outer edge of the inner panel 16. Triangular flaps 20 and 21 extend from each gusset. When the panel In? is folded on panel 15 to form the supporting pocket, the flaps 2i? and 21 are folded under and glued or otherwise secured to the panel 15 over the shaded areas in FIG. 1. It will be noted the ends of the flaps 20 and 21 overlap the line of fold 14 between the lower part A and the upper part B of the jacket thus strengthening the cover and reducing the tendency of the jacket to tear along the fold line 14.

To facilitate folding, a line of fold may be formed in the triangular flaps to coincide with the fold line '14 when the flaps are glued down.

Triangular flaps 22 and 23 extend from the ends of the outer panel 15 and are secured over the triangular flaps 20 and 21 by tabs 2 2a and 23a which extend from the free edges of the flaps and pass through incisions on the line of fold between the gusseted ends .18 and 19 and the triangular flaps 20 and 21. (These flaps 22 and 23 strengthen and rigidify the support.)

An elastic cord 24 is secured at its ends to each end of the jacket preferably by passing its ends through a hole in the gusseted ends 18 and 19 and knotting the ends to prevent them from pulling through.

A clip 25 is attached to the cord 24 about midway of its length.

To use the jacket as a book cover and support, lay the jacket open flat on a table as in FIG. 2. Holding the body (leaves) in the right hand, insert the books cove-rs into the lower pockets of the jacket to their full depth. Let leaves fall open flat about midway of the book. Pick up the open book with the jacket thus applied to it, and with the right hand, bring, the elastic cord out and over the open leaves and insert the clip in the upper end of the binding well as in FIG. 5. This holds the upper part B of the jacket against the back of the book when the book is open and also holds the leaves open at any desired place and provides a place mark.

To open the bookrest, hold the lower part of the open book by the left hand and with the right hand thumb and forefingers grasp the upper edge of the jacket and pull it out and down until the inner panel 16 springs free of the books covers and opens out to form a wedgeshaped supporting pocket as shownin FIGIS. 3 and 5. Make sure that the wedge-shaped supporting pocket is well open and its open end or mouth engaging the backs of the book. In open position the gusseted ends 18 and 19 should be fully extended. When the support is open it should extend substantially at right angles to the back as shown in FIGS. 3 and 5.

To release the book-rest and close the book, grasp the lower part of the book and with fioreiingers, press down on the inner panel 16 causing the Wedgeshaped pocket to collapse flat against the outside of the book covers. Leave the elastic cord in position to act as a book mark.

In opening and closing the book supporting pocket, there is a tendency for the fold line 14- to weaken and tear at the ends. Moreover, with constant use, the weight of the book and other pressures applied to the support may cause it to collapse. By constructing the support as described these disadvantages are minimized and a strong rigid support obtained.

As shown in FIG. 6, books of different width may be also accommodated by making the book support in halves. This may be done by cutting the blank into two equal pieces along a vertical bisector intermediate fold line 13 and applying pressure sensitive adhesive to the blank adjacent the fold line 13 so that two halves may be moved to and from one another and adhered together when they have been adjusted to the desired relative position.

What I claim as my invention is:

l. A protective jacket and book support of heavy paper stock or like foldable material, the jacket comprising a lower part adapted to cover the lower part of a book and having pockets for receiving the edges of the lower part of the back of the book, and an upper part adapted to cover the upper part of the back of a book and foldable back along a transverse fold line to provide a support for the book, said upper part comprising an outer panel and an inner panel folded one on the other to form a pocket and having triangular gusseted end walls whereby the said upper part may be opened out and folded back substantially at right angles to the lower part of the cover to form a wedge-shaped support for the book, characterised in that the gusseted end walls are secured to the outer panel by triangular flaps which overlap the transverse fold line to reduce the tendency of the jacket to tear along Satid fold line.

2. A protective jacket as claimed in claim 1 in which the said triangular flaps extend from and are integral with the inner panel of the pocket and are secured to the outer panel, and other triangular flaps extend from the outer panel and are secured over the first triangular flaps.

3. A protective jacket as claimed in claim 2 in which each of the other triangular flaps has a tab at its free edge which extends through an incision in the line of fold between the gusseted end and the first triangular flap to secure the second triangular flap over the first triangular flap.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2 ,573,191 Finch Oct. 30, 1951 FOREIGN PATENTS 458,085 Germany Mar. 31, 1928 568,521 Great Britain Apr. 9, 1945 

1. A PROTECTIVE JACKET AND BOOK SUPPORT OF HEAVY PAPER STOCK OR LIKE FOLDABLE MATERIAL, THE JACKET COMPRISING A LOWER PART ADAPTED TO COVER THE LOWER PART OF A BOOK AND HAVING POCKETS FOR RECEIVING THE EDGES OF THE LOWER PART OF THE BACK OF THE BOOK, AND AN UPPER PART ADAPTED TO COVER THE UPPER PART OF THE BACK OF A BOOK AND FOLDABLE BACK ALONG A TRANSVERSE FOLD LINE TO PROVIDE A SUPPORT FOR THE BOOK, SAID UPPER PART COMPRISING AN OUTER PANEL AND AN INNER PANEL FOLDED ONE ON THE OTHER TO FORM A POCKET AND HAVING TRIANGULAR GUSSETED END WALLS WHEREBY THE SAID UPPER PART MAY BE OPENED OUT AND FOLDED BACK SUBSTANTIALLY AT RIGHT ANGLES TO THE LOWER PART OF THE COVER TO FORM A WEDGE-SHAPED SUPPORT FOR THE BOOK, CHARACTERISED IN THAT THE GUSSETED END WALLS ARE SECURED TO THE OUTER PANEL BY TRIANGULAR FLAPS WHICH OVERLAP THE TRANSVERSE FOLD LINE TO REDUCE THE TENDENCY OF THE JACKET TO TEAR ALONG SAID FOLD LINE. 